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Weed scientist disappointed with industry dicamba response

A prominent weed scientist tells Brownfield he’s frustrated and extremely disappointed with the crop protection industry’s response to dicamba soybean damage, reported in 17 states. Aaron Hager with the University of Illinois was interviewed by Brownfield in late July, “I’ve never ever seen the industry behave the way that they have around some of these issues. I’ve never seen such instances of denial that have taken place by the industry and I hope — my hope is that I never see this again. This is the first time in 24 years of working here at the University of Illinois that I’ve ever seen this on this magnitude.”

Hager says comments he’s heard from the field, social media and the industry downplay the issue. He says the most troubling statement is that yield will not likely be reduced and there might even be a yield increase. Hager tells Brownfield there is NO way to determine dicamba damage impact on future yield, “It cannot be done. I cannot overemphasize that enough. We’ve never been able to do that in 50 years and I have no idea why people think that they can do it right now.”

Monsanto’s North American technology development director John Chambers tells Brownfield there are early studies that do show yield improvement after low-dose dicamba damage, BUT, he says, “that’s not our stance that acres are going to see increases with the technology.”

Two-and-a-half Million acres of soybeans nationwide have been damaged by dicamba drift this season, according to University of Missouri Weed Scientist Dr. Kevin Bradley. Hager estimates 600-thousand acres affected in Illinois.